Evergrace

There's a lot of confusion with regard to the early development of Evergrace, From Software's RPG that's being published by Agetec for release on PlayStation 2 in the U.S. The story that's most often told is that the game was originally planned for release on PlayStation and the work was later shifted towards developing it for PlayStation 2.

However, the true story is that when the game was originally conceived, the development team was constructing the game with the PlayStation 2 specs in mind. It wasn't until after the game's development process started that the company decided to try and develop the game for the PlayStation because of its stranglehold on the console market in Japan. Then, after finding out that the title was way too ambitious for the PlayStation, From Software decided to develop the title for PlayStation 2 instead.

The only reason that we share this tale is that it might help explain why the title seems to have a lot of ideas which do seem ambitious enough for a PlayStation 2 game, while at the same time have aspects that seem intended a system without the immense processing power.

Gameplay For the most part, Evergrace is a fairly run-of-the-mill action/RPG with nothing really special to speak of. The storyline, which allows you to follow the exploits of two different adventurers, named Darius and Sharline, is quite interesting, but at the same time not really that engrossing or gripping. The only really significant aspect of the storyline worth mentioning is that players are able to play the storylines of both characters simultaneously, with the ability to change at any time in the game when at specific points in the world.

As far as the game's translation is concerned, it's not the best we've seen in an RPG, but it's not horrible, either. Players will encounter the occasional type and there's plenty of speech that just doesn't sound quite English when spoken (and since all the text in the game is spoken by voice actors, you get to hear what I'm talking about when some well-written text doesn't sound correct when spoken out loud). The translation never really lessens or impairs the quality of the gameplay.

One of the game's cooler aspects, which happens to make use of the specific abilities only available on PlayStation 2, the combat makes excellent use of the analog face buttons on the Dual Shock 2 controller. The power of the characters' attacks are determined by how hard the Square button is pressed, so players can easily perform quick, weaker attacks, or slower, stronger attacks, very easily and without much thought. Combat is quite intuitive and both spells and magical attacks can be performed effortlessly because of the game's instinctive combat mechanics. The only problem is that it really could've used a better auto-target feature to aim long distance attacks or a Z-targeting lock-on ability like what was used in Zelda.

The game's other aspect that makes it more than just your average, run-of-the-mill, action/RPG is that it has a very unique dress-up system that is implemented in the game. While it seems a bit silly and inconsequential, it's actually quite entertaining. For those that haven't heard of this before, the characters in Evergrace will actually wear the clothing, armor, accessories and weapons that you equip them with. This actually enhances the believability of the gaming experience some because unlike most RPGs, the look of your character is reflective of what armor he or she is wearing. This actually works itself more into the game than just in the visual effect, but players are given the chance to have the style of their clothing judged in the game, making it part RPG, part fashion show. And if that's not enough for you, you can walk around with weird things like pots or birds on your head.

Graphics In some respects, the visuals in Evergrace leave a lot to be desired. While there are some large 3D environments to be explored, most aren't really too impressively designed and most seem to revolve around similar color patters. And while the backgrounds are vibrantly colored, the textures seem a bit simple in comparison to other games on PS2 like Summoner. Moreover, there are plenty of other minor problems with the game's visuals such as plenty of interlace flicker in the background, some slight clipping problems and a big drop in the game's framerate when projectile-based weapons are used from a distance. Even so, Evergrace is a decent enough looking game that showcases some of the power of the system that it's on.

Sound As far as RPG soundtracks are concerned, the music in Evergrace isn't really up to snuff. The score isn't bad, but there's nothing here that is really memorable. However, the quality of the music is good and it definitely isn't ever overly annoying or a pain to listen to. On the plus side, all of the game's characters have speech and Agetec has done another commendable job in this respect (the voice acting in Eternal Ring is better than we had expected it to be, as well). Bad voice acting can make a game completely unplayable, so it pleased us beyond belief when we found out that there's nothing really bad to be said about the voiceovers here. The acting is solid and the only real problems that I've heard has to do with poorly written lines rather than sub par work on the part of the voice talent.

The Verdict

Evergrace is both a solid and completely enjoyable role-playing game experience that will most likely be a fun play through for PlayStation 2 owners who are looking to play an adventure game on their brand spanking new system. The game's only problem is that it doesn't really do extremely well in any one particular category. The story, voice acting, character development, translation, combat system and plot progression are very good, nothing more. It's not a must-have title for PS2, but if you want an RPG, you won't be too disappointed if you pick this one up.